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A review by whitmc
Open City by Teju Cole
3.0
This book will provide a lot of fodder for discussion by college English majors, for sure. But as a book to tag along with you in life, there are better companions.
I always want to like the book that my boss passes along as he comments on the literary prose, a book that has things like "'One of the Top Ten Novels of the Year' --Time and NPR" printed on the cover. But I didn't. Literary, yes. Well written, yes. But it was trying too hard to be all of that. I disliked the main character but he was so blah that I couldn't even muster a passionate dislike for him. I added one star because the author gives you express permission at the end to dislike the narrator, so I think dislike was part of the point, but by then I didn't care. He was like a wet piece of cardboard. Completely lost in life. The whole premise of the book is that he is lost. SPOILER ALERT: He never finds himself. And he is a coward. And it's all likely because his dad died at a pivotal age and his mom was also a lost soul. There's your essay thesis.
So maybe the fact that I am so worked up about how lame this guy is, despite being a doctor, obviously well educated, etc. is the entire point of the book? I don't know. There were parts where the author had on point observations of human feelings and life, but they were floating randomly among prose about painters, poets, history, that made me feel like the author was trying to show off how smart he was. Or maybe he was doing that to showcase how out of touch with reality the narrator is. I don't know.
Skip, unless you are assigned it in English at a university. Then analyze the shit out of it.
I always want to like the book that my boss passes along as he comments on the literary prose, a book that has things like "'One of the Top Ten Novels of the Year' --Time and NPR" printed on the cover. But I didn't. Literary, yes. Well written, yes. But it was trying too hard to be all of that. I disliked the main character but he was so blah that I couldn't even muster a passionate dislike for him. I added one star because the author gives you express permission at the end to dislike the narrator, so I think dislike was part of the point, but by then I didn't care. He was like a wet piece of cardboard. Completely lost in life. The whole premise of the book is that he is lost. SPOILER ALERT: He never finds himself. And he is a coward. And it's all likely because his dad died at a pivotal age and his mom was also a lost soul. There's your essay thesis.
So maybe the fact that I am so worked up about how lame this guy is, despite being a doctor, obviously well educated, etc. is the entire point of the book? I don't know. There were parts where the author had on point observations of human feelings and life, but they were floating randomly among prose about painters, poets, history, that made me feel like the author was trying to show off how smart he was. Or maybe he was doing that to showcase how out of touch with reality the narrator is. I don't know.
Skip, unless you are assigned it in English at a university. Then analyze the shit out of it.